bJörn R. is an inconspicuous man: a shirt collar of the same color protrudes from the neckline of his cream-white sweater. His hair is neither long nor short, his facial features are rather soft. R. is 42 years old, he does not provide any information about his career or his profession. At the start of the trial before the Potsdam regional court on Monday, he only said two sentences: “No matter what happened before, I would never have killed or had my son's mother killed. I have nothing to do with Carolin G.’s death.”
The public prosecutor sees it differently. On May 10th last year, the 40-year-old teacher Carolin G. was found dead on the hard shoulder of the A9 between Beelitz and Brück – shot in her own car. The case caused a nationwide stir, partly because it initially seemed completely mysterious.
It was only two months after the crime that Björn R. and a former schoolmate of his were arrested. Björn R., the public prosecutor said when reading out the charges, perceived the mother of their son as a “disturbance in the father-son relationship” and wanted to have his child “all to herself.” The crime was preceded by a family court dispute over the boy, who was born in February 2021.
He is said to have shadowed Carolin G
According to the indictment, the couple's relationship had broken down by the beginning of 2022 at the latest. In March 2023, a Berlin district court granted the father the right to determine his place of residence, and a month later the mother filed a complaint against it. The parents appear to have continued to share custody.
Meanwhile, Björn R. and his former school friend Benjamin K. were planning his mother's death. The indictment states that he purchased an Opel Vectra through several intermediaries and had Carolin G. shadowed.
On the afternoon of May 10th around 5:30 p.m., the mother delivered the child to the father as agreed, as the public prosecutor explains. Benjamin K. then followed her in the Opel Vectra and intentionally rammed her car so that the left side mirror broke off. When Carolin G., an unsafe driver, stopped on the shoulder, he also parked his car and walked to her car. According to the prosecution, he shot at the woman through the side window and “one cartridge hit the injured person in the heart.” He wanted to ensure her death with two more shots in the left hip.
The schoolmate also denies everything
Benjamin K., however, also wants nothing to do with the crime. In a detailed statement, he claims to have been in his motorhome in Berlin-Zehlendorf at the time in question. After a concert by the band Sportfreunde Stiller the evening before and due to health problems, he actually just wanted to “get a little sleep” on the way home from an appointment, but then did so until after midnight.
K. states that he not only has Klinefelter syndrome, in which boys are born with an extra X chromosome, but also suffers from epilepsy, extreme sensitivity to light and asthma. At the time of the crime, he was in so much pain because of a herniated disc that he couldn't even get into the Opel Vectra.
In fact, K. obtained permission to sit in the courtroom wearing a cap and sunglasses. Training to become a carpenter and a bookbinder is said to have failed due to his health. He temporarily ran a mobile crepe stand and most recently lived from transfer payments and cleaning jobs.
However, Benjamin K. describes a number of dubious events that place a heavy burden on Björn R. and make him appear extremely naive. He admits that in the winter before the alleged murder, he shadowed his son's daycare center for several months on behalf of the child's father – an hourly wage of 15 euros. On the day of the appeal against the family court ruling, he accompanied his friend to his mother's house in the evening and saw him setting fire to the garbage cans there.
After the violent crime, his friend asked him to dispose of the Opel Vectra. Benjamin K. talks about several failed attempts. Finally, he tried to cover up all traces with a “mini explosion”. The fact that he sold the weekend house in which he lived and finally drove to Italy with his caravan to spend the next two years abroad was a long-term plan.
The court is prepared for a long circumstantial trial: 26 days of trial are scheduled until May.
#Murder #Carolin #Father #wanted #child
